354 SURVEY OF THE COAST 



from his lieirs. M. Lenoir, the artist who made the metres 

 of the Committee, considered this standard, and that of M. 

 Lenoir, well known from the Base Metrique, to !)e the most 

 authentic of the kind in private hands. About the time 

 stated for the standarding of this toise, the Academy of Sci- 

 ences of Paris discussed the propriety of establishing, as a 

 natural standard, the double length of the pendulum under 

 the equator. M. Du Sejour being then a member of that Aca- 

 demy, and interested in the subject from his situation, this 

 toise probably had reference to their views, which were af- 

 terwards directed to the metric system. 



3. Two copies of the toises of Lalande, which were 

 compared in England with Bird's scale, in 1765. The ori- 

 ginals were lent to me by M. Lalande, in 1793. M. Tn.Ues 

 and I made two exact copies of each. Tlie present are two 

 of those copies : they are marked A. and B. like their ori- 

 ginals. 



The standards hitherto mentioned I brought with me to 

 this country, in 1805. They are now deposited with the 

 American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia ; togetiier 

 with various works connected with the subject of a Gene- 

 ral Standard of Weights and Measures.* 



4. A brass metre, of the same breadth as the iron metre 

 above and half as thick, standarded by Lenoir in Paris, and 

 compared by Messrs. Arragoand Bouvard with the iron me- 

 tre, at the observatory, the iGth of March, 1813, as stated, 

 No. 16 of the catalogue of instruments procured for the sur- 

 vey of the coast. M. Lenoir, who was employed by the 

 Committee of Weights and Measures for the construction of 

 the standard, had made for himself, at that time, a brass 

 metre, whicli underwent all the comparisons at the standard 

 temperature at the same time with all the iron and the 

 platina metres. The present is a copy of this metre, re- 

 specting which the certiiicate mentions, — En applicant a nos 

 mesures une correction dependante de I'incgalite de dilata- 

 tion des deux metaux, il nous a semble, qu' a zero du ther- 



'^ See p. xliii., Vol. VI. Old Series. 



